{"id":19964,"date":"2012-01-07T12:35:24","date_gmt":"2012-01-07T12:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=19964"},"modified":"2012-07-05T18:48:29","modified_gmt":"2012-07-05T17:48:29","slug":"embassytown-by-china-mieville-reader-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/books\/embassytown-by-china-mieville-reader-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Embassytown by China Mi\u00e9ville reader review"},"content":{"rendered":"

To submit your reader review, just send 300 words as a text document on the last thing you read, new or old, sci-fi, fantasy, comic-book or horror, to james.hoare@imagine-publishing.co.uk<\/a>, and it could not only appear here but might make it into the magazine!<\/em><\/p>\n

The language is key. \u00a0And with language, China Mi\u00e9ville\u2019s venture into the science-fiction genre is nothing short of spectacular. <\/span><\/div>\n

\nAs the master storyteller\u2019s past works often utilize unique, flowing and intricate vocabulary, in general (just read The City & the City<\/em>), the future described in Embassytown <\/em>imbues. \u00a0The world-society on Arieka is based around the very use of language and is dependent on word-craft to survive. <\/span><\/div>\n

\nChina Mi\u00e9ville\u00a0depicts Arieka as an alien world in which the native populous, the Ariekes, only harbor the human enclave within a city that was co-constructed, alongside the Ariekes\u2019 own, to be an Embassytown. \u00a0The human city is a colony for the humans on the edge of the most unknown portion of space, the Immer, where few (Avice, the Immerser, is one of these) have traveled. \u00a0And it is also a colony, of sorts, for the Ariekes, though the humans are largely ignorant to this fact\u2026
\nThere is nothing like this. \u00a0The Ariekes, the aliens, are horse, maybe-fly or bird hybrid \u2013 well aliens \u2013 with two sets of wings and two mouths; they feel and seem utterly strange, lucid and imaginative (while still leaving plenty to the readers\u2019 mind to discern). \u00a0The Ariekes can only speak truth, from their two completely separate mouths, which is quite a contrast to humanity\u2019s use of language in the book and out of it. \u00a0The humans of Embassytown have learned how to genetically create and\/or manipulate biotechnology and people to form their own Ambassadors who are able to speak with the Ariekes.<\/span><\/div>\n

\nThe main character that Mi\u00e9ville\u00a0utiliSes is Avice Benner Cho, the former native-born Embassytowner and successful Immerser, and she is as contemplative, stubborn, smart and kick-ass a female protagonist as you will ever see. \u00a0Her life is forever intertwined to her homeland when the Ariekes choose her to become a simile, which allows them to stretch the truth in just such a manner that their minds evolve, a little.<\/span><\/div>\n

\nFor the Ariekes language is power, life and starkly intoxicating. \u00a0Their dependence proves to be treacherous, as evolution and language-as-drug-use threatens the entire foundation of Embassytown.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n\u201cWe speak now or I do, and others do. You’ve never spoken before. You will. You’ll be able to say how the city is a pit and a hill and a standard and an animal that hunts and a vessel on the sea and the sea and how we are fish in it, not like the man who swims weekly with fish but the fish with which he swims, the water, the pool. I love you, you light me, warm me, you are suns.
\nYou have never spoken before\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\nThe way of the planet and the space surrounding it is constantly explored and revealed to us, the reader, in a compellingly emotional and explorative narrative that unfolds steadily and brilliantly. \u00a0What needs to be stressed is how the invented languages (and there are multiple of these in the work), terms and use of characters and story techniques are extremely experimental and courageously innovative, while maintaining a streamlined, philosophical, understandable and absolutely addictive reading experience.
\nRarely are there newly constructed future-worlds in fiction that have such depth and originality as this one does. \u00a0Frank Herbert\u2019s Dune <\/em>is the only book I can bring to mind that does so similarly, and that comparison is, in itself, of the highest praise.<\/span><\/div>\n

\nIf you do not know by now, China Mi\u00e9ville strives to bring his monsters to every genre of fiction, and to do so in an enthralling and utterly innovative fashion. \u00a0He does not write monster-stories, but rather entertaining fiction that contains developed and relatable characters, as well as certain interactions with the realistically depicted monster-esque. <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
China is successful once again with Embassytown<\/em>, and we are all thankful frequenters enjoying the thrilling ride of his stories!<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Embassytown by China Mi\u00e9ville reviewed by a reader of the SciFiNow Book Club, tell us what you’ve been reading!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":19966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[1624],"tags":[2247,727,2376],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/embassytown.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19964"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}